Labor Day BBQ

By Lisa Storms

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Labor Day is the unofficial ending of summer and definitely deserves a big party to squeeze out every last bit of the season!

It's a great time to gather friends and family for that final summer BBQ. Do a little grilling and ask guests to bring a side dish. This takes a lot of the "labor" out of the holiday! There are also easy ways to incorporate homemade crafting to add a personal touch to your get-together.

Here I have designed two easy themes for Labor Day. The first is, of course, food! What is a BBQ without the food? Fiskars tools are helpful when producing duplicates, such as invitations. This burger invite looks involved but is actually super simple. The buns and patty are quickly cut using the Ultra ShapeXpress with the Circles template. The pickles are circles punches run through a crimper, the sesame seeds come from the Seed hand punch, and the mustard title is yellow puffy paint.

After burgers, the next summer staple I think of is watermelon! They are such a festive design that I decided to create paper rosettes to hang around. I took a sheet of vintage book paper, cut down to 9" x 5" and painted adding green stripes along the long side of paper. Using the scoring blade in my rotary trimmer, I gently scored each half inch and folded accordion-style. Fold in half and pull each ends out to meet the other side and adhere. Adhere seeds and punch with a Rectangle hand punch on a back tab to hang.

Corn on the cob ranks up there with my favorite summer eats. An empty toilet paper roll transforms into an adorable party favor by layering with strips of scallop-punched yellow paper. Here I painted vintage book paper to keep with my other decorations. Glue tissue paper (or again, book paper) inside under rim of roll, stuff with goodies, and twist closed. A Starburst candy on top mimics a pat of butter!

The other theme I created for a festive Labor Day BBQ is simply colorful! I want it to scream happy summer! I picked a colorful palette which made everything supper simple with a huge impact. First up is the burst of color in this easy banner. It might look complicated, but with the help of the Lattice Entertain You corner border punch, it comes together very easily! Just punch out colorful 3 inch x 4 inch rectangles of cardstock and punch around perimeter. Slip in 2 inch by 3 inch white cardstock in each and top with chipboard letter. Use the punched design to weave your string through to hang. Consider creating bigger squares to instead display favorite photos from the summer!

Treat cones are trendy with parties right now. Create your own cone holder out of a recycled box (mine is a child's shoe box). Trace the box onto cardstock and measure out a one inch border, cutting a square out of each corner to fold. Run through scalloped border punch and run a stylus along the traced lines on top of craft foam or a mouse pad to fold easily. Using the Everywhere Punch Window System, add circles along center. Glue to box covered with patterned paper. Cut out 8 inch circles using Circle Cutter or Super Sized Circle Templates, cut in half, and roll into cones to fill with individual-sized treats.

When color is your theme, it can be added anywhere! Bubbles bought at the dollar store suddenly seem part of the party décor by adding a strip of cardstock and a paper pieced sun created by layering two stars and a circle. Super quick and the kids (adults, too!) will have a blast with them.

Fiskars tools can make adding personalization to your next party a snap and most importantly, fun!